Tom Aspinall reveals ‘really dark’ moment that almost led to abrupt retirement from UFC | BJPenn.com

UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall almost hung up the gloves not long before Curtis Blaydes suffered a traumatic injury.

Tom Aspinall will make his first title defense as undisputed UFC heavyweight champion later this month at UFC 321. Aspinall and former interim titleholder Ciryl Gane headline a stacked card in Abu Dhabi, marking Aspinall’s first fight in more than a year.

Before his current UFC success, Aspinall’s meteoric rise was brought to an abrupt halt when he suffered a serious leg injury against Curtis Blaydes in July 2022. Just 15 seconds after the fight, Aspinall broke his leg and was sidelined for an entire year before resuming his career.

For Aspinall it was a major setback in his career and the first setback in the cage. But the incident was the turning point after he considered quitting MMA months before suffering the injury.

Tom Aspinall explains how a nasty leg injury changed the trajectory of his UFC career forever

In a recent conversation with TNT SportsAspinall opened at one of the darkest moments of his life and career.

“There were long, long feelings in a very dark place,” Aspinall said. “To be honest, before the injury I was half in the sport and half out. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue.

“I was doing things I shouldn’t have been doing outside the gym, my recovery was non-existent, training was in a bad situation,” Aspinall explained. “There were a lot of things that should have been changed.” (h/t Bloody elbow)

Fortunately, Aspinall changed his ways and has become one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. A win over Gane could potentially lure Jon Jones back to the Octagon for a White House fight next year.

Jones announced his retirement in June and vacated the UFC heavyweight belt, which was then given to Aspinall via promotion. But Jones has since adopted that stance and hopes to return to the cage next year.